The Villain Mom Awakens — Going Viral by Parenting on a Reality Show-Chapter 324: Abnormal

Ethan Shaw’s gaze lingered on her. Captivated by the radiant charm in her gentle smile, he couldn’t help but smile back. "If you like this place, we can come here more often."

Naomi Kenway smiled and nodded, then leaned down to ask Ian if he liked it here.

Ian nodded, his excitement obvious. "I love it!"

Naomi Kenway smiled, wrapping an arm around Ian as she chatted with him.

Suddenly, she felt the lights in the room dim slightly. The moment she looked up, a bouquet of vibrant, gorgeous roses appeared before her.

Her heart instinctively skipped a beat.

"Nina, congratulations on wrapping up filming," Ethan Shaw said with a smile. He deliberately lowered his voice, his already rich tone growing even more captivating. "I know you love roses but feel that picked ones are lifeless and tragic. So, I thought of these. This bouquet will never wither or fade. It will bloom as brilliantly and vibrantly as you do..."

Naomi Kenway accepted the bouquet. She could tell at a glance they were artificial, but what truly moved her was that the beauty of the roses couldn’t quite conceal the clumsy craftsmanship. In a tone of certainty, she asked, "You made these, didn’t you?"

Ethan Shaw felt his heart hammer against his ribs at her question. He worried his handiwork might look too cheap. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, his voice edged with tension. "Yes. Do you like it?"

Before Naomi Kenway could answer, he quickly added, "I also prepared some jewelry. It’s all at home for you to choose from. This bouquet is so ugly, so it’s fine if you don’t like it..." 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

His voice trailed off at the end.

Seeing his obvious nervousness, Naomi Kenway couldn’t help but smile. "What’s this? Does President Shaw have so little faith in himself?"

Naomi Kenway clutched the bouquet to her chest and smiled. "Thank you. I love it."

She lowered her head and took a sniff. The artificial flowers carried the fresh fragrance of roses. And—unless she was mistaken—she could also faintly detect Ethan Shaw’s personal scent, the cologne he always wore.

Ethan Shaw’s business acumen and athletic talent were matched only by how utterly clumsy he was with his hands. Naomi Kenway still remembered the time he’d tried to help Ian with a kindergarten craft project. After an entire night of work, the model airplane was a shapeless, horrifyingly ugly mess.

Snapping back to the present, she looked at the surprisingly lifelike flowers and knew Ethan Shaw must have put an immense amount of effort into them.

Ethan Shaw’s tense expression finally relaxed. When he saw that the delight on Naomi Kenway’s face was genuine and not just polite pretense, an inexplicable joy bubbled up inside him. He cleared his throat uneasily. "I’m glad you like it."

"You must have spent a lot of time and energy on this, didn’t you?"

The memories of one failure after another flashed through his mind, and a complicated look crossed Ethan Shaw’s face. He raised his cup and took a sip of tea. "It wasn’t that hard..."

"Daddy’s lying!" Ian piped up, taking Naomi Kenway’s hand. "Ian saw Daddy in his study gluing these flowers forever. Daddy’s really clumsy. It’s just a little flower, but it took him so long and he still couldn’t get it right. If it were me, I would’ve finished it super fast and given it to Mommy!" He didn’t forget to praise himself at the end.

Ethan Shaw cleared his throat. "I did not."

Naomi Kenway looked at Ethan Shaw, an unreadable emotion in her eyes. "Thank you..."

The sound of light footsteps announced the arrival of the servers, dressed in traditional Hanfu, who began bringing out the dishes.

After dinner, Naomi Kenway felt her condition improve significantly. The exhaustion that had weighed down her body seemed to vanish, replaced by a renewed sense of energy.

As they were leaving, Naomi Kenway held the bouquet. Artificial roses have no thorns, yet the ones in her hands felt scorching hot, almost prickly.

Naomi Kenway was lost in a daze for a moment before she finally clutched the bouquet tightly to her chest.

*

Not long after they got home, Ethan Shaw’s phone rang with a call from Luke Lowell. By then, Naomi Kenway was already exhausted and fast asleep in bed. Ethan Shaw frowned and declined the call. After pulling the covers over her, he quietly left the room and called back.

"Cousin! Hey, cousin!"

When he answered, Luke Lowell’s voice, as boisterous as a flock of sparrows, burst from the phone.

"Spit it out," Ethan Shaw said, his voice cold.

Luke Lowell could tell Ethan Shaw wasn’t in a good mood, which made no sense at all. "Cousin, did you give her the roses? Your wife likes roses but her heart aches for them, so real ones were a no-go. Artificial flowers show real thought! That Master Gale I recommended, his family has been making them for generations! They say the color and fragrance of his flowers are even better than the real thing. Anyone who sees them would call them a collectible work of art!"

Luke Lowell sounded immensely proud of himself. "So? Was she moved to tears? I’ve never seen her cry before. Why don’t you describe it for me..."

Ethan Shaw’s head began to throb. He was sure Naomi Kenway had been happy the moment she received the roses. But on the way home, she had been unusually quiet. Her silence sent his mood on a rollercoaster, soaring one moment and plummeting the next, leaving him completely unsettled.

"Her reaction was... strange. Maybe the roses were too ugly," Ethan Shaw said.

"Too ugly?! Impossible! Anyone who sees Master Gale’s work calls it a masterpiece! Those aren’t just artificial flowers; they’re art! To be blunt, does your wife have no taste?"

"Master Gale’s artificial flowers are works of art, but the ones I gave her..." Ethan Shaw looked down and sighed. "I made them myself."

"You made them yourself?!" Luke Lowell shrieked from the other end of the line. Ethan Shaw instinctively pulled the phone away from his ear. Glancing at the closed bedroom door, he warned in a hushed but firm tone, "Your cousin’s wife is asleep. Keep it down."

With that, he walked toward his study. Inside the enclosed room, Luke Lowell’s booming voice became even more pronounced.

"Well, well, cousin! You’re not my all-thumbs cousin anymore, are you? When did you level up behind my back? So, you contacted Master Gold not to commission a piece, but to become his apprentice?"

Luke Lowell sucked in a sharp breath. "Wait, if *you* made the roses, cousin... then with your, ah, your *exquisite* craftsmanship, they must be absolutely..."

Luke Lowell stammered, completely unable to spin it any further. "No, seriously, cousin, why would you give her something you made yourself? Your handiwork is terrible! How could you dare give it to her?!"

Ethan Shaw hung up. His already gloomy mood sank even lower after Luke Lowell’s tirade.

’Was it really that ugly?’

He pictured the bouquet in his mind. It was undeniably vibrant, so why didn’t she like it?

’Did I really overestimate myself?’

A chaotic jumble of thoughts piled up in his mind. For the first time in a long while, Ethan Shaw found himself lost in a state of bewilderment.

A complex storm of emotions, the likes of which he’d never experienced even in his youth, suddenly erupted in his heart. He felt as lost and melancholic as a callow teenager. He inwardly despised this impulsive, greenhorn version of himself, but he couldn’t quell the tumultuous thoughts raging within him.

By the time Ethan Shaw snapped out of it, he had already flicked his lighter. The glowing red tip of the cigarette was like a coiled viper, fanning the flames of his inner turmoil until they burned even brighter.